Goran Ivanisevic has offered a passionate defense of Novak Djokovic’s controversial stance during the Covid pandemic, suggesting that the 24-time Grand Slam champion’s unwavering principles stood above personal gain—even if it meant walking away from tennis altogether. Speaking candidly during a conversation with former Croatian football star Slaven Bilic on the show Failure of the Champion, Ivanisevic pulled back the curtain on his time mentoring Djokovic and the storm they weathered during some of the sport’s most turbulent times.
Their coaching partnership, which began in 2019 and concluded amicably in March of last year, produced career-defining highs and plenty of friction with the wider world. Among those headline moments was Djokovic’s dramatic deportation from Australia in early 2022 after refusing to comply with Covid-19 vaccination protocols. The fallout was severe, with the Serbian ace missing key tournaments and facing widespread public criticism.
Reflecting on that period, Ivanisevic didn’t hold back in backing Djokovic’s personal decisions, arguing that the tennis star stood alone in a world that, in his words, surrendered too easily.
“Novak refused the vaccine, ready to abandon his career, a decision no other elite athlete would do,” said Ivanisevic.
“The world condemned him, criticized him relentlessly, even belittled him for standing firm. Yet he never wavered, standing firm in his conviction with a determination that still resonates.
“Now we are talking about those vaccines and they say that some of them caused problems. We were locked up like sheep for three years and we were manipulated.
“It was during the pandemic when he refused to get vaccinated. He said publicly several times that it was a decision he was making for his body, that he knew his body best and that he didn’t want to do that. And he was ready to end his career for this reason. He went all the way just to not get vaccinated
“He never told anyone not to get vaccinated, he never told us not to get vaccinated. We all got vaccinated. He never did that in his life. He organized a tournament in Belgrade, he facilitated the vaccination of other players, but he did not get vaccinated and, for this reason, he was criticized.”
Ivanisevic’s comments portray Djokovic not just as a champion on the court, but as a figure of firm moral resolve off it—someone who chose autonomy over applause. According to the Croatian tennis legend, Djokovic didn’t oppose others’ choices but simply stood by his own, despite the intense backlash that followed.
From pandemic policies to tennis history, Ivanisevic also weighed in on the long-running GOAT debate—a subject that continues to stir passionate discussion among fans and former players. For him, Djokovic’s resume not only speaks for itself, but places him a notch above both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the hierarchy of tennis greats.
“Those are the three perhaps the greatest players in the world,” said Ivanisevic.
“Federer plays the most beautiful tennis, even when he plays badly, you enjoy watching. Then you have Rafa who is a fighter, to the point of exhaustion, he is such a fighter, he will leave his life on the court. He won 14 titles at Roland Garros, that will never happen in the history of any sport. Djokovic is the most complete of all three and the best ever.
“When someone tells me that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, how does it matter? Everything matters. If Luka Modrić was English, he would be the most expensive in the history of football.
“It’s not the same, this one is Swiss, this one is Spanish, then a guy from Serbia comes and they don’t understand anything, where he came from. He goes and says what he thinks, he’s the only one, he says what others think and what they shouldn’t say. Novak tells the truth, it hurts people, not everyone will hear it. I know what others think, they twist it a bit, and he is like that.
“We are Balkans, so they put us all in the same category, you are this or that. He showed them on the field and they can’t take that away from him. He is the best. You don’t have to love him, you have to respect him and acknowledge him. At the end of the day, they will have to acknowledge him, because he is the greatest. If he was one of those two, yes, they would have already acknowledged them.”
Ivanisevic’s words frame Djokovic not just as a player with an extraordinary all-court skillset but as an outsider who defied expectations—and cultural bias—to climb to the sport’s summit. In his eyes, Djokovic’s ability to thrive despite the political, social, and media challenges he faced only amplifies his legacy.
With Djokovic continuing to compete at the highest level into his mid-thirties, the conversation around his place in tennis history is far from over. But as Ivanisevic sees it, the numbers, the titles, and the unyielding resilience all point in one direction: Novak Djokovic is already the greatest to have ever played the game.